Star Labs
"He's been gone too long," Wanda said as they all waited for Barry to return.
"He's been gone for less than thirty minutes," Pietro pointed out.
Clint shot the poor naïve speedster a sympathetic look as Wanda glared at him. He'd just made the biggest mistake a man could make: questioning a hormonal pregnant woman. Pietro was saved from Wanda's wrath when Barry entered the cortex, his cowl down.
"Did you find her?" Cisco asked.
"Well," Barry gestured awkwardly as Lisa walked in.
"Wait, you let a criminal know who you are?!" Wally exclaimed shocked.
"I needed her to trust me," Barry said simply.
"And the criminal has a name," Lisa drawled in a way that reminded Barry and Cisco of her brother.
"We're all on the same side here. Cisco, I need you to work with Lisa to figure out probable locations that Snart might be at," Barry ordered.
"Yeah, okay," Cisco said awkwardly as Lisa eyed him like he was a piece of meat.
"I look forward to working together Cisco," Lisa said, her voice lowering slightly and taking on a seductive undertone.
"Good," Cisco said uncomfortable.
"Wow, you can cut the tension with a knife," Sam muttered.
"Sexual tension that is," Clint cracked, enjoying making Cisco squirm.
"Can we just get to work?!" Cisco exclaimed, his head as red as a tomato as they laughed at his expense.
Unspecified location
Same time
Frost and Dr. McGee were working on something as Savitar walked over.
"How's it coming along?" Savitar more demanded than asked.
"It should be ready in a few hours," Dr. McGee said.
"Unacceptable," Savitar snarled, speeding over and lifting her up by the neck, choking her. "I need it now!"
"If you want it to work, you need to give us time. Or the deal is off," Frost said as she crossed her arms.
For a moment, Frost thought Savitar was going to snap and kill McGee. Then, he dropped her and McGee went to the floor, gasping for breath as she held a hand to her throat.
"Get back to work," Savitar said coldly before speeding off.
Frost stared at the spot where Savitar had stood moments before, doubt beginning to form in her mind.
Star Labs
A little later
"Okay, now we just need to determine which of these locations is the most likely to be Savitar's current base," Cisco said as he typed away.
"And how do we do that?" Lisa asked curiously from where she sat next to Cisco.
"Look for anything out of the ordinary, reports of heavy power usage, stuff like that," Cisco explained as he typed, looking over recent reports.
"Is there anything you can't do?" Cisco missed the seductive tone to her voice, focused on his task as he was.
"Have a long lasting relationship, apparently," Cisco said absently.
"Yeah, know what that feels like," Lisa said a wistful look on her face.
"No one's clamoring for a date with you?" Cisco asked.
"There have been plenty of offers but none of those losers interest me. Except you," Lisa said with a look that made his stomach do something funny.
Before Cisco could respond, he saw something on the screen that made his heart soar.
"Got it!" Cisco cheered.
In the cafeteria, Logan opened the fridge looking for beer.
"Don't you have anything besides soda?" Logan complained.
"We rarely get a day off. Plus, three of us can't drink and Wanda is pregnant," Steve said as he eyed Logan curiously. "Have we met before?"
"Now that you mention it, he does look familiar," Bucky said as he stared at Logan.
"Don't think so, but I've had the same feeling since I got here about you two," Logan said as he closed the fridge, deciding on a Coke. "Maybe I just have one of those faces."
"Maybe," Steve said skeptically.
In the longue, Barry was sitting on the couch as he held Wanda, absorbing the news she'd just told him.
"A daughter?" Barry asked blown away.
"Yeah. Guess we need to start thinking about baby names…and where we're going to raise her," Barry raised an eyebrow at Wanda's tone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Barry inquired.
"Earlier, when you were talking about the different earths…you called Earth-66 home," Wanda pointed out and Barry was silent.
"In some ways, it feels like home, even now," Barry admitted slowly. "Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of painful memories. It's where I was tortured, where I was injected with the Red Death, where you and I were put in an underwater Alcatraz. But it's also where I met you. Where we fell in love. And for that, it will always feel like home to me."
"You know, in all the time we've been here…we've never talked about what happens when the baby is born or when Steve and the others leave," Wanda said carefully, trying to gauge his reaction.
"And we need to," Barry started before he was interrupted.
"Hey guys, I think I've got a location!" Cisco said over the intercom.
"And we will. Just not now," Barry sighed, lightly kissing her hair before he stood up, helping Wanda to her feet as well.
Everyone made their way into the cortex, where Cisco and Lisa were waiting.
"Okay, after looking for anything strange, I got a hit," Cisco said as he brought up an image of a warehouse on one of the monitors for them all to see. "This is a safe house five miles outside the city. It's had heavy power usage over the last twelve hours. And I got this last night off a traffic cam nearby."
Cisco showed them footage in slow motion of Savitar speeding in with Caitlin in his arms.
"Gear up. We're going after Savitar," Steve said, a steely glint in his eyes as he zeroed in on Caitlin's unmoving form.
As everyone moved to leave, Cisco stopped Pietro.
"Hey, I've got something for you," Cisco said, reaching inside his jacket and pulling out a device.
Pietro stepped back, recognizing the device. It was the same one Cisco had been forced to make by Alexei so Pietro would be fast enough to open a portal to the Speed Force.
"I don't want it," Pietro said in disgust, eying the device like it would come alive and bite him.
"Would you relax and just listen for a minute?" Cisco said in exasperation. "I modified it. The way it made you faster would have caused you to lose your powers if you'd used it long term. Tachyons aren't compatible with a speedster like you. So, I decided to do something different."
"Different how?" Pietro asked cautiously and Cisco grinned like a little boy who'd gotten his Christmas present early.
"It won't make you faster, but it'll make you stronger. It'll make you more than three times stronger than you are without it," Cisco held the device out to Pietro. "I know you feel guilty for letting Savitar out. But maybe some good can come out of it. Maybe we can use this to help in the fight against Savitar."
Pietro was silent, still staring down at the device in Cisco's hand. Then, he reached down and took it, putting it on like a watch.
"Thank you," Pietro said softly and Cisco nodded.
"You want redemption, you need to earn it. They're not gonna forgive you if you just sit on your hands feeling sorry for yourself," Cisco told him.
"And have you forgiven me?" Pietro asked curiously.
"I'm open to the idea," Cisco said simply and Pietro nodded. "Now let's go take this bastard down."
Snart's safe house
Not long after
Two guards standing outside, looking for trouble when trouble found them. Logan jumped down, claws out and slashed them both across the chest before they could make a sound. They fell on their backs, dead, and Logan then retracted his claws and tapped the Comms piece in his ear.
"North entrance is clear," Logan confirmed.
At the south, a man was hit in the shoulder with an arrow. Roy then dropped down, dressed in one of his old red hoodies with his quiver on his back and bow in hand.
"Same for the south," Roy confirmed.
"West is clear," Barry said, looking at the two guards he'd tied up.
Clint fired, taking out the two guards on the east entrance.
"East is secure," Clint said as he lowered his bow.
Together, they all entered the warehouse. Only to find it was almost completely empty. Almost.
"Dr. McGee?" Barry asked in surprise, seeing the good doctor standing in the seemingly abandoned warehouse.
"Hello Mr. Allen," McGee said pleasantly, her eyes glowing unnaturally blue. "It's good to see you."
"She's under Savitar's control. It's why he had me attack Mercury Labs, so he Alexei could grab her," Roy said, the information coming from the fragmented memories of his time under Savitar's control.
"Dr. McGee, you need to come with us," Barry said, taking a step forward.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I'm afraid none of you are leaving here," Dr. McGee said as she opened her land, revealing a wire attached to a trigger.
"Shit, this was a trap!" Logan swore, looking around wildly, his senses going overdrive as he looked for any explosives.
"Ma'am, you don't want to do this," Steve said gently, trying to reach her.
"It's no use, you can't fight Savitar's control," Roy growled, knowing from personal experience.
"Guys, get out of here," Barry said and they all looked at him. "I'll handle D. McGee."
"I'm not leaving you kid," Logan said firmly.
"And you're out of your mind if you think we're leaving you here!" Clint exploded.
"Wanda would kill us," Pietro added.
"If she was gonna blow us up, she'd have done it by now," Barry said confidently and Dr. McGee smiled in a way that confirmed his statement. "I'm not gonna leave her here. Go…we'll be right behind you."
"We're Avengers, we don't abandon each other," Tony said and Barry barely held himself back from rolling his eyes.
"Do you want me to remind you of all the ways you abandoned almost everyone in this room?" Barry asked angrily and didn't need to see behind Tony's face plate to know Tony had winced. "This is my mess to clean up guys. My city, my earth, my home. So do what I say and get out of here, now!"
"If you die, I'll bring you back to life just to kill you myself," Natasha told him lowly and Barry nodded.
"I'd expect nothing less," Barry told her.
"Don't die out there," Logan told him before they reluctantly began to take their leave.
All but Steve, Cisco, and Pietro.
"Do you not hear me?" Barry asked annoyed.
"Just…come back safe," Steve said and Barry nodded.
"I will, we both will," Barry said, not taking his eyes of Dr. McGee.
Steve nodded, putting his hand on Pietro's arm, trying to lead him out.
"If you leave my sister a single mother before she's married, I'll kill you,' Pietro threatened.
"I think Wanda will beat you to it," Barry joked and Pietro couldn't help but laugh.
"Probably. See you on the other side," Pietro said, running out.
"Run like hell," Cisco said and Barry nodded.
"Only way I know how," Barry said confidently.
Cisco nodded before he and Steve left, leaving Barry and Dr. McGee alone.
"I'm not leaving you here to die Dr. McGee," Barry said as he slowly took a step towards here. "Why did Savitar leave you here?"
"Because he knew you'd come. Because he didn't need me anymore. Dr. Snow can finish what I started," Dr. McGee said and Barry frowned.
"And what is that? Why did he need you?" Barry inquired.
"To help make a cure for what ails him," Dr. McGee said and Barry was only more confused.
"What ails him? You're not making any sense Dr. McGee," Barry said bewildered.
"It doesn't matter Mr. Allen. None of it matters anymore. I've served my purpose. Now, all that's left is for me to carry out my last order," Dr. McGee said simply.
"And what is that?" Barry asked wearily.
"To kill you," Dr. McGee said before she pushed the button on the trigger.
Outside, The Avengers, Cisco, Wally, Pietro, and Logan all watched in horror as the safe house exploded in a blast of fire.